AURKB/CDC37 complex promotes clear cell renal cell carcinoma progression via phosphorylating MYC and constituting an AURKB/E2F1-positive feedforward loop

Abstract As the second most common malignant tumor in the urinary system, renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is imperative to explore its early diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets. Numerous studies have shown that AURKB promotes tumor development by phosphorylating downstream substrates. However, the functional effects and regulatory mechanisms of AURKB on clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) progression remain largely unknown. In the current study, we identified AURKB as a novel key gene in ccRCC progression based on bioinformatics analysis. Meanwhile, we observed that AURKB was highly expressed in ccRCC tissue and cell lines and knockdown AURKB in ccRCC cells inhibit cell proliferation and migration in vitro and in vivo. Identified CDC37 as a kinase molecular chaperone for AURKB, which phenocopy AURKB in ccRCC. AURKB/CDC37 complex mediate the stabilization of MYC protein by directly phosphorylating MYC at S67 and S373 to promote ccRCC development. At the same time, we demonstrated that the AURKB/CDC37 complex activates MYC to transcribe CCND1, enhances Rb phosphorylation, and promotes E2F1 release, which in turn activates AURKB transcription and forms a positive feedforward loop in ccRCC. Collectively, our study identified AURKB as a novel marker of ccRCC, revealed a new mechanism by which the AURKB/CDC37 complex promotes ccRCC by directly phosphorylating MYC to enhance its stability, and first proposed AURKB/E2F1-positive feedforward loop, highlighting AURKB may be a promising therapeutic target for ccRCC.